


heavy in heart is the heart of king. king of iron, king of steel

by fernfuneral



Series: we’ll hang my halo on the wreck [3]
Category: Half-Life, Hunt Down The Freeman (Video Game)
Genre: POV Second Person, dont need to know hdtf to read, idk man, prose practice but mitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26315275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fernfuneral/pseuds/fernfuneral
Summary: "you are still alive when he comes. you don’t remember getting to the hospital. your legs are leaden, your life is leaking slowly onto the clinically white bed, and you cannot run. you have died once and yet you are not dead yet."or, mitch's deal with the g-man, but i was practicing my writing
Series: we’ll hang my halo on the wreck [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853779
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	heavy in heart is the heart of king. king of iron, king of steel

there is blood in your mouth. a liquid copper, placed on your tongue for the journey to hades. it sits heavily, thick and stringy, and your mouth tastes overwhelmingly of penny-sharp rust. you can imagine swallowing it and choking. you’ve never been in more pain. maybe, no, certainly, you are dying. your vision fades, for a moment. You know for sure that there is little time left.

you are still alive when he comes. you don’t remember getting to the hospital. your legs are leaden, your life is leaking slowly onto the clinically white bed, and you cannot run. you have died once and yet you are not dead yet. 

the man wearing the suit looks as if he is something much too big trying to fit into something much too small. there’s a shadow behind his eyes, shifting with him, and you refuse to comprehend it. he offers you a deal.

you think about your brother. you wonder where he is. the last time you saw him he was crying. perhaps he was always crying. his humanity wept out of him like he was your old tin sink, riddled with rust and holes. you miss him, but you don’t think he would like you now, as you are. you are much too similar to your father, even after everything. it terrifies you, but you’d always known you were bound for ruin.

the man in the suit is still talking. he doesn’t sound like anyone you’ve ever met. the pain from your injuries makes you feel like you’re on fire. you find yourself hoping it will consume you. your body is not your own, and maybe it never was. it is moving, talking, and yet you do not know who is piloting it. you hope that the person moving behind your eyes knows you. you hope that you know yourself.

it would be easier if he let you die, you think. your life has never been easy.

but death is never what it seems. you died when your brother left, did you not? you died, screaming his name into your hands on a cold linoleum floor as if it would bring him back, eyes leaking out all of the things you could not say. you died the day your father did, died in triumph, with his blood on your hands because he could not hurt you anymore-could never hurt anyone again. you are dying now, blood coating your shirt and drying to your body, teeth shattered and sharp in your mouth, and you know that finally, finally, it is literal. 

the man is gone, your eyes are heavy, and you have made a deal. religion has never been a part of your life. piety means nothing to those already damned, but a part of you believes that that thing was the devil. you’d always imagined he’d be painful when he came for you. the pain had been there before he arrived, and you know it is never going to leave, for you cannot remember when it arrived. 

your head feels as if it is being split in half, zeus birthing athena, but the only thing leaving your skull is the slow drip of blood, falling down down down to the floor. it is so difficult to imagine living. you don’t deserve this, but you’ve never deserved something more.

there is blood in your mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> hope u liekd mwah mwah
> 
> title from Epic III from Hadestown


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